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Jane Jacobs, 1916-2006

1:11 PM EDT on April 25, 2006

One of the most influential urban thinkers, writers, and activists of the 20th century dies at age 89 in Toronto, Canada.

"I enthusiastically endorse the campaign to close Central Park's loop drive to regular automobile traffic. We had the same sort of fight in Washington Square Park in the late 1950s and in my neighborhood here in Toronto a couple of years ago: same prediction of traffic chaos, same result of no chaos, diminished traffic counts and no counts increased elsewhere in consequence. Isn't it curious that traffic engineers are so loath to learn something new even after repeated demonstrations?"

--Jane Jacobs, author of The Death and Life of Great American Cities, Cities and the Wealth of Nations, and Systems of Survival.

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